For the massive television audience on January 20th, 2009, Inauguration Day was a parade of odd and stirring images: from the quivering mass of a million and a half people packed into the mall, to Dick Cheney’s menacing emergence in a wheelchair, to the far-away look in Barack Obama’s eyes as he arrived on the [...]

“Do we participate in a politics of cynicism, or do we participate in a politics of hope? … Hope in the face of difficulty, hope in the face of uncertainty, the audacity of hope: in the end, that is God’s greatest gift to us, the bedrock of this nation, a belief in things not seen, [...]

Now that the Bush administration is no longer in power, it’s possible that some of its senior members may face prosecution for their involvement in U.S. torture programs. Despite lobbying efforts by members of the CIA, President Bush left office without issuing a “preemptive pardon” to protect officials who have engaged in torture from being [...]

Frederick Kirschenmann is a distinguished fellow at the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture at Iowa State University. He is listed as one of the “Sustainable Dozen” by Food Democracy Now, an online petition to bring leaders in the sustainable agriculture movement into the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Given the smooth Senate confirmation hearing for Tom [...]

The auction for 22-year-old Natalie Dylan’s virginity has been open for almost five months now. Dylan (not her real name) hails from San Diego. She already holds a bachelor’s degree in women’s studies from Sacramento State but doesn’t have the money for grad school, so she has decided to prostitute herself in. According to Dylan, [...]

The second Sunday of January marked the first meeting of the Central Iowa Sewing Rebellion, a free monthly sewing workshop. The day was cold and the air was crisp, but it was warmer than the days before the Rebellion and, comparatively, was a great improvement. We began the meeting with good food, conversation and hot [...]

so there’s this guy with two shopping bags. and he walks in front of this tank. as if the great big eye of god or history were an engine of simple destruction. of social change roaring for war. and this armored goliath shifts gears from crowding peasants to eating students. cracking small bones while affixing [...]